1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tailgate trim high-mounted stop lamp mounting structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As generally known in the art in an automotive vehicle, in order to signal a brake operation state to a driver of a following car when a brake pedal is applied, stop lamps are installed at both left and right sides of the rear end of the vehicle body. However, since the stop lamps are generally installed along with tail lamps, if the stop lamps are turned on in the nighttime while traveling with the tail lamps turned on, it is often the case in which the lighted state of the stop lamps cannot be properly recognized by the driver of the following car. Also, in the case that the stop lamps are dim or it is difficult to distinguish at a distance the lighted state of stop lamps from the lighted state of the tail lamps, the driver of the following car cannot properly recognize the turned-on state of the stop lamps of a preceding car.
In particular, in the case that the preceding car travels at a high speed or abruptly stops on a dim road, if the driver of the following car does not precisely recognize the turned-on state of the stop lamps of the preceding car, a serious rear-end collision may occur. Therefore, in order to cope with these problems and improve marketability and outer appearance of a vehicle, a separate stop lamp, that is, a high-mounted stop lamp (HMSL) is additionally installed on a tailgate or a package tray at a rear part of the vehicle.
However, conventional structures for mounting the high-mounted stop lamp can have a number of problems.
For example, while a tailgate upper trim can be mounted around the stop lamp so that the stop lamp and the tailgate upper trim are matched to each other to improve the outer appearance, an excessively large gap may be formed between the stop lamp and the tailgate upper trim when viewed from the bottom to seriously degrade the outer appearance of the high-mounted stop lamp. Also, the gap may be formed at a place exposed to the outside when the tailgate is opened. When the stop lamp and the tail gate upper trim are developed separately from each other it is difficult to match them and a substantial gap is often formed between them.